When individuals are first presented with information intended to transform them from non-users to users of modern contraception, they are thrust into decision-making situations. Observations of the residents of a small North Indian village before, during, and after their initial exposure to a formal family planning program led to the development of a cross-cultural conceptual framework intended to help identify the kinds of structural components and processes involved in responses to family planning programs. The basic units are seen as cultural and idiosyncratic cognitions, and an inventory of classes of these "response determinants" is suggested. The processes are explained by a synthesis of Janis's conflict theory and Festinger's dissonance theory.
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